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March 28
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Al Jazeera has published an article about Armenian refugees in Syria, who has returned to Yerevan amid the Syrian ciivil war.

According to the author, Dorian Geiger, “more than 20,000 Syrians of Armenian heritage travelled to Yerevan as war unravelled, among them many jewellers.”

The author presented the story of Vahe Hovhannesian, who is a 31-year-old jeweller and Syrian refugee, and now sits by his work table in a studio in Yerevan.

"The rocket fell right on our building," he said. "At that moment I realised that I had to leave Syria.”

For Armenians, Aleppo became a sanctuary. Armen Minassian of the IDeA Foundation said: "We know first-hand what it is to be a refugee.”

According to the source, Armenian government provides citizenship and employment rights to Syrian refugees who can prove their Armenian lineage. However, as Vahe Hovhannesian noted, “it was only natural to welcome refugees to Armenia from Syria, [and] not only to those of Armenian descent.”

According to the source, Hovhannesian now lives with his brother and parents in Yerevan.

"Jewellery is the profession of Armenians," said Hovhannesian. "Our ancestors brought this culture with them when they were escaping from western Armenia.”

Thousands, of ethnic Armenians who arrived from Syria, work as jewellers.

“One floor above Hovhannesian's studio, another Syrian Armenian, Vrezh Srapian, meticulously paints silver pomegranate pendants with acrylics,” the author noted.

Each piece fetches about 700 Armenian dram ($1.50).

"I have to pay for our apartment rent, studio rent, and earn our living," said Srapian, who left Syria in 2011.

According to Pierre Akkelian, cofounder of the Armenian Jewelry Foundation, the craft was "part of Armenian DNA".

"It goes back to the beginning of history. We've been jewellers and metallurgists since time eternal. Armenians are to jewellery, what the Swiss are for watches," he said.

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